Thursday 5 May 2011 19.15 EDT
First published on Thursday 5 May 2011 19.15 EDT

Josephine "Chez Dumonet"

For a delicious sepia-toned experience of pre-war Paris, this beautiful art-nouveau bistro on a chic street in Saint Germain is worth the wound to your wallet. The fact is that old-fashioned bistro cooking in Paris has become almost as expensive as it is rare – thank France's 35-hour working week for making slow cooking so pricey. But if you're craving old-school dishes like morel mushrooms stuffed with foie gras, truffles and country ham; millefeuille of boned pigeon; and bœuf bourguignon, you won't do better than this 1880 vintage dining room. Note that many dishes are served in half portions, the boeuf bourguignon is so ample it feeds two, and the reasonably priced house Bordeaux is what all the regulars drink. • 117 rue du Cherche Midi, 6th, +33 1 4548 5240. Métro: Duroc or Sèvres-Babylone. Open Mon-Fri lunch and dinner. Average à la carte €50

A la Biche au Bois

It's miraculous that this really good traditional French bistro hasn't become a major tourist destination, a reprieve explained by its location in a workaday part of Paris near the Gare de Lyon that's impervious to trends and also by its ardent crowd of exigent regulars. Many of those gents with giggle-inducing matching ties and socks come here daily at noon, and they'd know in a flash if the kitchen stopped making its superb frites from freshly peeled and cut potatoes or the cheeses on offer were pasteurised. So no one makes a big deal about the very good and reasonably priced food here, because they see it as a French birthright. In season, this is the place to go wild for game, and otherwise they serve oeufs mayonnaise, coq au vin, boeuf bourguignon, and other great Gallic monument-type dishes. • 45 avenue Ledru-Rollin, 12th, +33 1 4343 3438. Métro: Gare de Lyon. Open Tues-Sat lunch and dinner, Mon dinner only. Average à la carte €35

Le Baratin

Le Baratin

For anyone craving a taste of la vie bohème in Paris as much as a really good meal, Argentine-born Raquel Carena's funky bistro in the rough-and-tumble Belleville quarter is the perfect choice. During the past 20 years, rising property prices have driven most working artists and creative types over the périphérique (the Paris ring road) into the suburbs or into the provinces, but ethnically eclectic and bracingly scruffy Belleville still has an edge. The self-taught Carena moved to Paris some 25 years ago, and her cooking is a delicious hybrid of the kitchens of France, South America, North Africa, Spain and other countries, as shown by dishes like tuna tartare with pitted black cherries, and ox cheeks braised with citrus fruit, carrots, onion and red wine. Her slightly gruff husband runs the mostly organic and biodynamic wine list, and this crowded little dining room is where many of the great chefs of Paris head on their nights off, Joel Robuchon, Yannick Alléno and Jean-François Piège among them. • 3 rue Jouye-Rouve, 20th, +33 1 4349 3970. Métro: Belleville or Pyrénées. Open Tues-Fri lunch and dinner, Sat dinner only. Average €40

Les Bistronomes

Les Bistronomes

Now over 20 years old, the New Bistro movement in France – which started in the early-1990s recession, when ambitious young chefs opened bistros instead of formal restaurants – has added a whole new generation of bistros to the culinary landscape of Paris, and they just keep getting better. A perfect example is the recently opened Les Bistronomes, a pretty restaurant with a beamed ceiling and oatmeal-and-taupe striped wallpaper next to the Palais Royal. Like so many New Bistro chefs, Cyril Aveline earned haute cuisine credentials – he was most recently sous-chef at the three-star Le Bristol – before going out on his own, and this pedigree is reflected in the impeccable technique and clever use of the occasional luxury product that make his bistro food so good. At a recent lunch, a rustic starter of foie gras and duck breast-studded pate en croute was more than worthy of Michelin accolades, as was his chicken with a supreme sauce and basmati rice. Courteous, well-organised service and an affordable but interesting wine list are other winning attributes of this excellent bistro. • 34 rue de Richelieu, 1st, + 33 1 4260 5966, lesbistronomes.fr. Métro: Pyramides. Open Tues-Fri lunch and dinner, Sat dinner only. Set lunch €26 two courses, €35 three courses, average à la carte €50

Le Bistrot Paul Bert

Photograph: Meg Zimbeck

With the sort of old-fashioned film noir Paris bistros the world craves becoming scarce as hen's teeth, restaurateur Bertrand Aboyneau deserves a fancy French chest fob for creating a new old-fashioned bistro 14 years ago. In 1997, the back-of-beyond Bastille neighbourhood was beginning to gather some serious gastronomic credentials as a herd of trendy young types in search of cheap flats and atmosphere charged into the quarter. With its delicious trad Gallic grub, retro atmosphere – created by old enamel adverts and cracked tile floors – and excellent wine list, this place became the roaring hit it still is today. So expect a happy, noisy international crowd and great grub like terrine de campagne, marinated herring, steak tartare, and veal chops. • 18 rue Paul-Bert, 11th, +33 1 4372 2401. Métro: Faidherbe-Chaligny. Open Tues-Sat lunch and dinner. Average €40

Christophe

Photograph: Tim Albany

Hidden away in the Latin Quarter, young chef Christophe Philippe's simply decorated bistro with poppy-coloured walls and bare wooden tables is a find for two reasons – his modern French bistro cooking is delicious, and he's open for both lunch and dinner on Saturday and Sunday, when most Paris bistros are closed. Philippe, who's originally from Menton, on the Riviera, brings a southern touch to the traditional bistro register, using the lemons his Mum occasionally sends him to make a superb citrus millefeuille, and he also sources his menu from some of the best suppliers in Paris, including butcher Hugo Desnoyer. Don't-miss dishes include his escargots in Provençale butter, steak with potato puree, and unctuous chocolate mousse. • 8 rue Descartes, 5th, +33 1 4326 7249. Métro: Maubert-Mutualité or Cardinal Lemoine. Open Fri-Tues lunch and dinner. Average €45

Frenchie

Frenchie

The news that chef Gregory Marchand is expanding his tiny bistro in Le Sentier, Paris's old garment district, into a twin space opposite the original address in the small pedestrian lane where it's located has Paris abuzz, which tells you a lot about the impact the place has had since it opened in 2009. Originally from Nantes, Marchand cooked at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen in London and Danny Meyer's Gramercy Tavern in New York before returning to Paris to open his own place. The atmosphere at his tiny exposed-brick space with factory lamps and a minuscule kitchen nods at his Anglo-American experience as much as his brief market-driven menus do. Marchand, who picked up the nickname "Frenchie" in London, says his stints abroad "unleashed" his gastronomic imagination, but he still displays the deeply disciplined skills of a classically trained French chef. Think hip Gallic comfort food like cream of mushroom soup with a poached egg and grilled bacon, ox cheeks with swede, and white chocolate pannacotta with raspberries. • 5 rue du Nil, 2nd, +33 1 4039 9619, frenchie-restaurant.com. Métro: Bonne Nouvelle or Réamur Sebastapol. Open Mon-Fri dinner only. Average à la carte €40

Le Pantruche

Le Pantruche

A perfect example of the excellent neighbourhood bistros that remain the bedrock of Paris's credentials as a gastronomic mecca, this new place in the trendy 9th arrondissement also offers excellent value. Talented chef Franck Baranger worked in the kitchens of Christian Constant (Les Cocottes, Le Violon d'Ingres) and three-star chef Eric Frechon at the Hotel Bristol before deciding to set up shop in bohemian "So-Pi" (South of Pigalle). Large aluminium suspension lamps over the bar are about as much decor as this place has, but service is friendly and Baranger's contemporary French cooking is precise, often delicate and delicious, as seen in starters like his succulent terrine de foie gras or coddled egg on a bed of creamed baby leeks and main courses such as a rib chop of free-range pork with potato puree or cod with tandoori spices on a bed of lemon-spiked braised cabbage. • 3 rue Victor Massé, 9th, + 33 1 4878 5560, lepantruche.com. Métro: Pigalle or Saint-Georges. Open Mon-Fri lunch and dinner. Set lunch €17, set dinner €32, average à la carte €35

La Régalade Saint-Honoré

Photograph: Meg Zimbeck

When young chef Yves Camdeborde opened the original La Regalade in a remote 14th arrondissement location in 1992, no one saw a revolution coming, but this lusty bistro completely reset the pendulum on Paris bistro cooking. Today it's owned by talented chef Bruno Doucet, and a few months ago he launched a much more convenient Right Bank branch that's been a roaring hit. The 1950s-vintage dining room, a former cafe, doesn't offer much by way of eye candy, but you come for the food. Doucet changes his menu often but dishes like chicken-broth-and coconut-milk soup with grilled shrimp and spaghettini, free-range pork belly by Basque producer Eric Ospital on a bed of lentils, and cod steak on a bed of wilted spinach with chopped hard-boiled egg and tomato and tiny croutons in a light vinaigrette show off his talent. And the €33 prix-fixe menu makes this place is one of the best buys in Paris right now. • 123 rue Saint-Honoré, 1st, +33 1 4221 9240. Métro: Louvre-Rivoli. Open Mon-Fri lunch and dinner

Chez Georges

Photograph: Paul Cooper/Rex Features

Yes, it's expensive, and yes, at least half of the dining room will be speaking a language other than French – usually various colonial permutations of English – but this is only because the entire English-speaking world comes to Paris on an enthralled mission to eat the great bistro dishes so lovingly described by writers like Elizabeth David and Julia Child. The hard fact of the matter is that this sort of cooking is harder and harder to find in Paris. So tune out the prattle from New Jersey and Melbourne and enjoy such brilliant old-fashioned bistro dishes as celeriac rémoulade, grilled turbot with béarnaise sauce, duck breast with cèpe mushrooms, cassoulet, and pot-au-feu (beef and marrow bones simmered with root vegetables). And for proof that a recent change of ownership at this 1964-vintage address hasn't changed the place a jot, order the tarte tatin with ivory-coloured crème fraîche for dessert. •1 rue du Mail, 2nd arrondissement, +33 1 4260 0711. Métro: Bourse. Open Mon-Fri lunch and dinner. Average €60

•Prices are per person excluding wine. Alexander Lobrano is the author of Hungry for Paris